Sports Media Power Ranking: The 2026 Edition

Platforms/Shows: New Heights, Monday Night Countdown (Jason Kelce)

Audience: New Heights (3.19 million YouTube subscribers)

Salary: Three years $100 million deal with Wondery for New Heights

Claim to Fame: While newlyweds Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are the world’s most famous power couple, “Travis and Jason” are the biggest couple in the podcasting world. Since its founding in September 2022, the brothers’ show New Heights has become a haven of football analysis and chummy conversations with A-listers outside of sports; Travis Scott, Matt Damon, Prince William, Will Ferrell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Adam Sandler, and, of course, Swift have all dropped in. Travis still plays in the NFL as the star tight end of the Kansas City Chiefs, and has won three Super Bowls, while Jason, who retired from pro football after the 2023 season, also totes a Super Bowl ring as a key member of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning team in the 2017 season.

Blowing Money Fast: On the pod, Travis revealed that he spent a good chunk of his rookie contract on sneakers: Nike MAG Back to the Futures, specifically.

Tears and Then Beers: Best man Jason Kelce reportedly cried throughout his brother’s July 2026 wedding at Madison Square Garden. But he turned from “boo-hoo” to brew after the vows were exchanged, disclosing that he had “way more” than 15 beers at the reception.

Problem Child(ren): The brothers claim they were both kicked out of preschool: Travis for refusing to share a checkers set, and Jason for stabbing another kid with a spork.

High School High: The brothers played high school football for Cleveland Heights, hence the name of their podcast, New Heights.

Split Decision: When Travis’ Chiefs and Jason’s Eagles squared off in Super Bowl LVII, their mom Donna wore a custom split jersey for the game and said she was rooting for whoever was on offense. In the end, the Chiefs prevailed 38-35.

Power Move: Travis recently partnered with the French advertising and PR giant Publicis to launch Tekta, a NIL matchmaking agency for college athletes.

Platforms/Shows: Josh Pate’s College Football Show; Bussin’ & Pate on Campus

Audience: 529K YouTube subscribers

Claim to Fame: No one covers college football with as much insight, knowledge, and passion as Josh Pate. The Columbus, Georgia native had his Eureka moment while working as a news anchor at WMTZ NBC 38 when the station’s meteorologist introduced him to Facebook Live. “It was like a light bulb,” Pate tells Complex. Soon, he was talking college football with 15 to 20 viewers on a stream. A decade later, Pate owns the IP of his wildly popular show and became a regular on ESPN’s Get Up and Fox Sports’ The Herd with Colin Cowherd. Now, he’s leveled up again. Bussin’ & Pate on Campus, his weekly college football show with Bussin’ With the Boys co-hosts Taylor Lewan and Will Compton, premieres September 4 on ESPN.

Turn Off the Radio: Pate listened to sports talk radio all day when he worked construction and in a fabric warehouse. He did not like what he heard. “I hated that college football was the number two sport in the country and it was treated fifth or sixth,” Pate says. “I hated that sometimes it was very obvious the people who were talking college football at the national level did not eat, sleep, and breathe it.”

The Greatest College Football QB of His Lifetime Is. . . “Probably Cam Newton.”

Secret to His Success: From the start, Pate’s show had a national flavor and a professionalism to it. He sensed that media was changing and his big break could come sooner rather than later. “I understood one day this is going to become fully commoditized,” he says. “One day major media is going to realize, ‘Hey, this space[streaming] is a jungle. You’ve got to earn every view, every download. But you had to already carry yourself like you were working for them. You had to hold yourself to that standard.”

Does He Use AI at Work? “I do. I mainly use it as a function to enhance staff workflow. It cuts down a lot of the post-production work for us and the market research for us. . . And look, I may not care about everything it brings back to us, but if even 20% of it's relevant, it's worthwhile to look at that”

What He Misses About the Pre-College Football Playoff Days: “I loved when the term ‘Meaningless Bowl Game’ never existed,” Pate says.

Platform/Shows: Lead host, live sports programs (Netflix); Host, WNBA (USA Sports)

Claim to Fame: As Netflix’s first sports anchor, Elle Duncan has moved quickly from one marquee assignment to another. Since leaving ESPN after nearly a decade, she’s hosted Skyscraper Live, MLB Opening Night, the 2026 MLB Home Run Derby, and Field of Dreams, while covering boxing and Netflix’s first live MMA broadcast. Next, she’ll anchor five 2026 NFL games, starting with 49ers-Rams in Australia on September 10. Duncan calls her role being “the glue,” and that is her defining skill: learning each desk, drawing out its experts, and shifting between analysis, humor, and storytelling without losing the audience. That preparation and adaptability make her a true multi-sport utility player.

Odd Job, Part I: “I hosted The Kitchen Sink on the Gospel Music Channel—it was basically the TRL of Christian music,” Duncan tells Complex, “and while I wasn’t exactly an expert when I got the job, I learned a ton; then Ernie Johnson told me he watched, and I could’ve retired right then.”

Biggest Risk Taken: “Leaving Atlanta in 2014 for my first full-time sports job in Boston,” Duncan says. “I was comfortable, making good money, and had never lived outside my hometown, but starting over taught me that the most meaningful journeys usually begin with uncertainty.”

The #GirlDad Effect: Her emotional story about Kobe Bryant proudly calling himself a “girl dad” helped inspire the viral #GirlDad movement following his death.

Dream Studio Desk, Dead or Alive: Vin Scully, Pat Summitt, and Charles Barkley. “They bring everything a great desk needs: someone who makes you feel, someone who teaches, and someone who makes you laugh,” Duncan says.

Odd Job, Part II: Duncan played a news reporter in the 2014 comedy Ride Along, starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart.

Her One Big Change to Sports Media: “I’d spend less time trying to win the conversation and more time trying to elevate it, because sports already gives us incredible stories. We don’t have to manufacture conflict to make them interesting.” 

Platform/Shows: Small Ball with Kenny Beecham (Enjoy Basketball, broadcast and distributed on Peacock and YouTube), Numbers on the Board (Omaha Productions, ESPN, and Enjoy Basketball), The Kenny Beecham Hour (SiriusXM and Enjoy Basketball)

Audience: Numbers on the Board, 197K YouTube subscribers; Small Ball, 314K YouTube subscribers

Claim to Fame: Kenny Beecham doesn’t let his role as a basketball analyst dull his fandom, or vice versa. His unbridled enthusiasm for the game has helped the 29-year-old Chicago native rise from making NBA 2K videos on YouTube as a teenager to co-founding Enjoy Basketball with brothers Cole and Cody Hock in 2022. Over the past 365 days, the flourishing media and lifestyle brand has landed partnerships with NBC Sports, SiriusXM, and the NBA—major moves that have pushed Beecham to become a better delegator. “It took a little while to adjust to recognizing that what everybody’s saying is valid,” he tells Complex. “Everybody’s got the same goal of making things bigger and better.”

Recent Power Purchase: An Audi RS3 sports car, after months of deliberation.

The Best Advice I’ve Received: “Don't be precious with the art,” Beecham says. “There are many people who want to get into creation, music, whatever, who become perfectionists. That's just not the right route to go... Look at my most-viewed videos: My goodness, they are bad, bad videos. There's not a lot of time that was put into those videos. You never know what's going to pop off. So don't be precious with your art. Publish it.”

GOAT NBA rapper: Damian Lillard.

The Problem With Sports Discourse Today:“Everybody needs to be right. Sometimes, halfway through an argument I recognize the person I'm arguing with is actually making a better point [than I am]. It's okay to say, ‘I lost that debate.’”

Yes, It’s True: At age 12, he wrote a book of poetry that led to an invitation to a national poetry competition in Virginia. “For a while, I thought I was going to be an author,” Beecham says. “But I have not done anything with that skill. That skill is gone.”

What Does Power Mean to You? “Freedom—the ability to throw concepts at the wall publicly and not feel bad when they don't hit.”

Platform/Shows: UFC Reporter (UFC)

Claim to Fame: There’s likely going to be literal drama that Nina Drama is on this list in the first place, and that’s exactly why she’s here. What started out as a labor of love—traveling weekly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to create UFC content—is now Nina Marie Danielle’s full-time gig. She interviews fighters, but a lot of people do that. It’s her style that captures eyeballs. She doesn’t talk Xs and Os. Drama’s approach is more about getting fighters to laugh at borderline inappropriate jokes, making them more likeable in the process. And it’s her connection to fighters such as Armen Tsarukyan, Sean Strickland, and Alex Pereira that’s led to some of the best UFC content on the internet—and hundreds of millions of views.

Best Business Decision: A former fashion model and comedy content creator, Drama moved to Vegas around four years ago to focus on the UFC. “I knew it was going to work out,” Drama tells Complex. “I was absolutely delusional with the idea that I would be the best to ever do it and nothing was going to stop me.”

Recent Power Purchase: “I don’t buy expensive things,” she says. “What I do spend money on is production. My Sony FX6 and all my livestream equipment. My TVU WiFi backpack. That changed the game for me.”

I Knew I Made It When: “People started making gossip videos about me on the internet to get traffic on their page.”

Yes, It’s True: Drama claims that her content has shaped how UFC boss Dana White views specific fighters, including fan favorite Arman Tsarukyan.

Biggest Recent Win: “I don’t have time to sit back and look at my biggest wins,” she says. “They’re all wins and there are more to come.”

Platforms/Shows: Talkin’ Baseball, Talkin’ Yanks, Jomboy & Jake TV (Jomboy Media)

Audience: Jomboy Media (2.31 million YouTube subscribers)

Claim to Fame: The Twitter bio for Jomboy Media sums up the company's origin story in 75 characters: “Two best friends started making content and others joined them, a breakdown.” In 2017, Jimmy O’Brien, a former wedding videographer, started the Talkin’ Yanks podcast. His best friend Jake Storiale joined him after a few episodes and they soon developed a following. By the end of the 2018 season, they had made it their sole full-time job. Jomboy’s bread and butter are its breakdown videos, entertaining and insightful analysis of baseball highlights and viral moments. In 2022, O’Brien and Storiale signed a partnership with Yankees broadcaster the YES Network, and in June 2025, Major League Baseball purchased a minority stake in their company. The company now produces approximately 20 podcasts.

Big Break: During the 2019 season, Jomboy published a series of hot-mic videos, including Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s viral “savages in the box” rant.

Journalism 101: When MLB released their report of the Houston Astros cheating scandal in November 2019, O’Brien went to work. He found footage from an infamous 2017 game cited in the investigation, added his commentary, and tweeted it out with the caption “Astros using cameras to steal signs, a breakdown.”

Power Booking: Since 2023, Aaron Boone has done a weekly spot on Talkin’ Yanks, bypassing traditional outlets like ESPN and WFAN. Though the conversations sometimes become contentious (see their 2025 argument about Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe), the manager sometimes stays on the air for 45 minutes. “At the core, they’re good guys,” Boone told Newsday. “They’re pretty easy to talk to and reason with. Sometimes I say I’ve got to slap them down a little bit. They get a little too expert. They think they’re the expert sometimes. But I really like those guys.”

Cartoon Network: The 2025 Simpsons episode “A League of Their Moe” featured a Jomboy breakdown segment of an argument between Moe the Bartender and Grandpa Simpson.

Power Slap: Jomboy’s breakdown of Will Smith smacking Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars accumulated 7.6 million views on YouTube.

Yes, It’s True: The name “Jomboy” stems from a group-text, autocorrection inside joke.

Platform/Shows: Insight with Chris Van Vliet

Audience: 851K YouTube subscribers

Claim to Fame: Whenever a pro wrestler is ready to break kayfabe and share their story, Insight is the first stop more often than not. Van Vliet is known for its eclectic guest list, spanning all promotions from the biggest superstars of today (Cody Rhodes) to forgotten names from the past (he recently landed Attitude Era alum Steve Blackman’s first interview in 17 years). But that’s not what makes Insight so, um, insightful. The Canadian podcaster is one of the sharpest interviewees around—a disarming, yet well researched, host with a keen ability to get people to open up. “It doesn’t feel real,” Van Vliet tells Complex. “The fact that I’ve gotten to talk to some of the people I looked up when I was a kid and got to share these long, in-depth conversations, the wrestling fan in me is totally freaking out.” It’s still real to him, damn it.

Recent Power Purchase: 1981 DeLorean DMC 12. “I’m a huge Back to the Future fan,” he says.

Advice for Wrestling Podcasters: “You got to start and you need to keep going,” Van Vliet says. “Also, you got to love every part of the process: booking the guest, researching the interview, doing the interview, editing it, producing it, uploading it, and then promoting it. If you don't love all those steps, eventually this thing's going to fizzle out.”

Dream Interview: Sting

Does He Use AI At Work? “No, no. I use very talented people who are far better at editing, writing, and research than I am,” Van Vliet says. “AI gets a lot of stuff wrong too. The other day I asked it, ‘Who are the four biggest wrestlers to never main event WrestleMania?’ And they were like, ‘Oh, well, Kurt Angle’s got to be at the top of the list.’ What are you talking about? Kurt Angle main evented WrestleMania XIX!”

Bret or Shawn: “I’m Canadian. I got to go with Bret.”

Platforms/Shows: Club 520 Podcast (The Volume)

Audience: 863,000 YouTube subscribers

Claim to Fame: Most athletes spend their retirement reminiscing, polishing their legacies and casting themselves as the heroes of past battles. Former NBA point guard Jeff Teague, meanwhile, has become one of sports’ best storytellers by constantly making himself the punchline. Tales of his hooping days are often self-deprecating, unfiltered, and hilarious, whether bricking a potential game-winner or getting pressed by Kevin Garnett. With co-hosts DJ Wells and B Hen, Club 520 feels less like an athlete interview show than a group chat that somehow got microphones. This year, the podcast hit the road with its Off the Court tour, joined The Volume, and landed an apparel and footwear partnership with Adidas. That’s funny money.

Side Hustles: Scouting for the Atlanta Hawks, coaching at his alma mater Pike High School, and operating The Factory D1, an Indianapolis sports training facility.

Funny Business: “I’m a clown naturally, so I clowned in the locker room all the time,” Teague told Complex in 2023. “That’s why I got all these stories because I joke too much."

Top 5 Shooting Guards: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, James Harden, Dwyane Wade, and “maybe” Ray Allen.

Most Annoying Trash Talker: Dennis Shroeder

Greatest Podcast Influence: The Joe Budden Podcast.

White Men Can Jump: Jeff thought all white hoopers sucked—until he played Kevin Love in high school. “Kevin Love was the first one,” he said on Club 520 in 2025. “I’m like, ‘Man, I’m about to punk this dude. He fat.’ Man, [Lake] Oswago, whatever that team was called, he probably had 70 points on us, bro. Him and Kyle Singler, they killed us. I was like, ‘Alright, them two white dudes good. Rest of them sad, though.’”

Platform/Shows: The Ariel Helwani Show (Uncrowned)

Audience: 455K YouTube subscribers

Claim to Fame: Ariel Helwani is executive editor of Uncrowned and executive producer and host of its flagship show, The Ariel Helwani Show. He leads an approximately30-person operation covering MMA, boxing, and professional wrestling. Launched with Yahoo Sports in 2024, Uncrowned gives Helwani the best of both worlds: he owns his shows, feeds, archive, and intellectual property while gaining the reach of a major platform. Named MMA Journalist of the Year again in July 2026, Helwani excels at asking simple, direct questions and following answers wherever they lead. By pairing that interviewing acumen with ownership of his work, he's created a compelling model for personality-led media.

Best Advice Received Early On: “Eighty percent of success is just showing up,” Helwani tells Complex, “so whenever I was nervous or didn’t feel like I belonged, I’d tell myself, ‘F it. Get up, go, show up,’ and good things usually happened.”

Power Move: Helwani used MySpace to land Kurt Angle as the first guest for his original combat-sports website in 2007.

Best Athlete He’s Seen Live: Jalen Brunson.

Journalism 101: Helwani doesn’t write down questions prior to his big interviews but he has a favorite follow-up. “‘Why?’ or ‘How did that make you feel?’ usually leads to the best answers,” he says.

Who Has Yoo Much Power in Sports? “Social media algorithms, because they feed athletes, media members, and fans so much negativity that it starts affecting how people think, work, and even approach their careers.”

Full-Circle Moment: He secured a 2003 HBO Sports internship by cold-emailing the company’s general inbox—then returned 19 years later as a correspondent for Real Sports.

If I Were Starting My Career Today, I’d Be On. . .“Probably TikTok, it feels like the platform that can get your work in front of the most people the quickest.” 

Platform/Shows: NBA on Prime, Thursday Night Football (Amazon Prime)

Claim to Fame: Emmy-nominated Taylor Rooks hosts NBA on Prime’s pregame, halftime, and postgame shows while remaining a Thursday Night Football feature reporter, placing her at the center of Amazon’s two biggest U.S. sports properties. She previously hosted and executive-produced Bleacher Report’s Take It There, where she developed her defining skill: getting athletes beyond polished answers without losing their trust. When Nneka Ogwumike recently decided to announce her retirement from the WNBA, Rooks got the exclusive. She now applies that instinct on live television, moving between reporting, analysis, and conversation. Her rise from digital interviewer to lead host of a major rights package captures sports media’s shift to streaming—and makes her one of its defining broadcasters.

Sports Genealogy: Rooks’ father played running back at Illinois, her uncle Marv Woodson played in the NFL, and Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Brock was her great-uncle.

Early Side Hustle: “I didn’t have one—I gave everything I had to Plan A,” Rooks tells Complex.

No Credentials, No Problem: At 19, Rooks interviewed LeBron James during NBA All-Star Weekend—even though she had no media credentials or assignment from an outlet.

She Feels Most Powerful When. . . “Someone tells me something they’ve never said out loud, whether that’s on camera or at dinner.”

Dream Interview: “Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas together, Tiger Woods alone, or Beyoncé, of course.”

Yes, It’s True: Rooks is in four fantasy football leagues, including Josh Hart’s, where she is the defending champion. 

Platforms/Shows: It Is What It Is (Blue Wire)

Audience: 993K YouTube Subscribers

Claim to Fame: Childhood friends, turned acquaintances, turned enemies, are now work besties. That's the power of It Is What It Is, the Mase and Cam'ron sports show that continues to stand out in a space rich with rappers picking up a mic to talk rather than to spit. Admittedly, a lot of the duo's most viral moments come from Cam and Mase's Woody Woodpecker-style instigating tactics (whether it's beef with Jim Jones or J Prince) and the fact that they love to tell old war stories (like the time Big L tried to rob Mase). But their sports coverage and breakdowns are still the most hilarious in the game. This is the kind of barbershop talk that we were starved of for years—the stuff you get from washed up but confident ex-athletes who still found a way to make millions off their rizz.

Recent Viral Moment: Cam struggling not to laugh (or shout “pause”) on First Take as Stephen A. Smith discussed former Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau’s tendency to play his starters long minutes: “Thibs wants to ride you and ride you and ride you til the wheels fall off.”

Parent Trap: When Mase’s 12-year-old, 6’2” son told him didn’t want to play basketball anymore, he said, “I’m an intellectual.” Mase’s response? “What’s that, n—? We in the middle of a [AAU] game.”

Is Cam a Journalist or Not? "I'm the new journalist, n—,” he told Complex in 2023.

Heartfelt Eulogy: After It Is What It Is regular OJ Simpson died from cancer in April 2024, Mase was at a loss for words. "I need a moment to get all my thoughts together but I have a lot I want to share,” he said, “and I wanna make it sure it comes from the right place. Pause."

New York or Nowhere: Though born and raised in Harlem, Cam’ron has been a San Antonio Spurs fan since the 1990s. When New York legend Rod Strickland was playing for the Spurs, he would visit Cam'ron's Gauchos youth basketball team.

Yes, It’s True: Cam initially wanted Jadakiss as his co-host on It Is What It Is.

Platform/Shows: First Things First (FS1); What’s Wright with Nick Wright (The Volume)

Audience: First Things First (140K daily viewers); What’s Wright with Nick Wright (246K YouTube subscribers)

Claim to Fame: Nick Wright has a stock answer when asked what he does for a living. “I’m one of those guys that argues about sports on TV,” he tells Complex. Wright is more than just a Hot Take machine though. The 41-year-old Kansas City native is the go-to guy for anything Chiefs or LeBron related, but his well-researched, cogent opinions reach across leagues, even extending to social issues on occasion. “Nick has the ability to talk about a subject and it sounds like he’s reading a book,” Colin Cowherd tells Complex. “He’s a great story-teller. He can talk extemporaneously in a smart and detailed way.”

Earliest Take: At age 10, Wright called into the Chiefs’ post-game radio show to complain about head coach Marty Schottenheimer’s clock management. Wright eventually got his own segment on the program titled “Nick the Kid.”

Big Break: Wright’s second time filling in for Colin Cowherd on FS1 was July 4, 2016. “Ten minutes before we went to air, Kevin Durant announced he was going to the Warriors,” Wright tells Complex. “ESPN was in wall-to-wall Wimbledon coverage on both channels. So the only place you could really hear people talking about it was Colin's show—and I was filling in. A few weeks after that is when Fox brought up the idea of starting First Things First.”

Recent Power Purchase: Wright wore a fake watch on the air until Dan Patrick publicly shamed him for it. “Since then, I’ve become a watch guy,” he says. “If you ever see me on the show wearing what looks like a fancy new watch, you can assume I had a really good night at cards. I have two very, very nice watches that I alternate wearing that I bought with poker money. I’m not going to tell you [the make].”

Yes, It’s True: He is lifelong, childhood friends with Kansas City, Missouri mayor Quinton Lucas.

Does He Use AI At Work? “Never once for anything, ever,” Wright says. “Over the last few years, I have felt myself, along with, I think, a lot of the world—I don't want to say getting dumber, but not being quite as sharp as I once was, because we offload so much of our brain to our phones. And we have other people do our thinking for us. And so I am trying to stem that tide. And I think the only way to stay sharp is to use your brain as much as possible. So no, I've never used it for anything.”

Who Has Too Much Power? “Right now at this moment—in America in 2026—I think that’s too long of a list to get into. It’s a damn long list.”

Lebron James Is. . . “The greatest athlete in the history of the world,” Wright says.

Read the full interview with Wright here.

Platform/Shows: Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective (ESPN); NBA coverage across SportsCenter, Get Up, First Take, NBA Today and Hoop Streams (ESPN)

Claim to Fame: More than two decades deep into his career, Brian Windhorst remains one of the NBA’s most tapped-in sources of intel. After co-hosting the 2026 NBA Draft telecast, the longtime LeBron whisperer (and fellow Akron native) thoroughly covered King James’ free-agency frenzy, this summer’s biggest basketball story. The 48-year-old author and analyst pumps out three weekly episodes of his The Hoop Collective podcast during the NBA season, while his mug is a mainstay across ESPN programming. Dude’s “Windy fingers” are forever etched in basketball meme lore.

Rumor Report: Back in the 2010s, Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager Sam Presti reportedly considered poaching Windhorst from ESPN due to his inside knowledge around the league.

Windy’s Proposed NBA Rule Change: Shorten overtime periods from five to three minutes.

Crystal Ball: Windhorst predicts that the influx of pro athletes transitioning into media will eventually reverse. “Player media largely has failed,” Windhorst said in a 2025 appearance on The Press Box podcast. “There are obviously very successful guys and girls who have done it, but the podcast boom—at least the handing out of the money—seems to have stemmed..”

Ayo Technology: When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver touted in February that AI-powered telecasts could transform the basketball viewing experience, Windhorst responded with a heavy dose of sarcasm. “Why stop at the broadcasters?” he mocked on an episode of The Hoop Collective. “Why not have an AI commissioner? Why not have AI referees? Why not have AI coaches? Why not have AI players? Why not the whole thing just be one giant simulation?”

Yes, It’s True: Windhorst lost half of his blood in June 2008 after developing a rare autoimmune disorder, prompting doctors to place him in a medically induced coma. He awoke 22 days later; in a 2018 interview with The New York Times, he said loved ones knew his brain was functioning properly when he began theorizing about the Philadelphia 76ers’ cap space.

Platforms/Shows: Barstool Sports (Barstool), Big Noon Kickoff (FOX), Wake Up Barstool (Fox Sports 1)

Audience: Big Noon Kickoff (1.8 million); Wake Up Barstool (19K daily viewers)

Claim to fame: Portnoy is arguably—actually, inarguably—the most controversial name on this list. “El Presidente,” as he’s known to his followers, launched Barstool Sports in 2003 as a free print publication and built it into a media empire for “bro culture.” Today, the Barstool umbrella includes a website, a partnership with Fox Sports, and three brick-and-mortar bars. But their roster of hit podcasts (including Pardon My Take and Spittin’ Chiclets) are the main reason Barstool was once valued at more than half-a-billion dollars. Portnoy famously sold Barstool Sports to Penn Entertainment earlier this decade, only to buy it back for $1 in August 2023.

Working Stiff: After graduating with a degree in education from the University of Michigan in 1999, Portnoy moved back to the Boston area and worked a 9-5 IT sales job.

Biggest Free Agent Acquisition: Signed former Ringer podcaster Ryan Russillo last fall.

Perfect Pizza: Portnoy has given out just one perfect score in his lengthy history of reviewing pies: Monty’s Restaurant in Lynn, Massachusetts, received a 10.0 out of 10.0.

Bros for Life: Portnoy and college football and NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay were born on the same day in the same hospital, grew up together in Swampscott, Massachusetts, and remain friends to this day.

Sworn Enemies: Bill Simmons, Roger Goodell, Zohran Mamdani, feminists, liberals, “cancel culture,” investigative journalists. . .

Yes, It’s True: Portnoy was arrested at NFL headquarters in New York City in May 2015 as he and several other Barstool employees staged a sit-in protest in support of Patriots QB Tom Brady during the “Deflategate” saga.

Platform/Shows: NBA Today, NBA Countdown, WNBA Countdown, NBA Draft (ESPN)

Claim to Fame: Sports Emmy winner Malika Andrews is ESPN’s Swiss army knife. In addition to her wide array of hosting duties for ESPN’s NBA and WNBA coverage, she also reports from NBA sidelines and recently joined the ESPN desk for the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open. She became the first woman to host the NBA Draft in 2022; in 2025, NBA Today grew 16 percent, marking ESPN’s strongest daily NBA studio performance since 2018. Andrews’ defining skill is controlling live television without sacrificing the reporting, context, and precise language she honed at The New York Times and Chicago Tribune. That foundation allows ESPN to deploy her across sports and formats, making her one of the network’s most versatile hosts.

First Jobs: Long before ESPN, Andrews worked as an IHOP hostess and spent a summer cleaning horse stalls.

Extra, Extra: “Newspapers taught me to write, rethink, and examine a story from every angle, and writing remains my primary creative outlet,” Andrews tells Complex.

Best Business Decision: “Saying yes to covering the NBA Bubble.”

Her Superpower: “I just watched the new Spider-Man movie and they talk about Peter's spidey tingle,” Shams Charania tells Complex. “And I think Malika has such a great feel for the league and for news and for what is needed for the coverage. She also has such great poise [while] a million things are [happening] at all times—onset, offset, production, pre-production, post-production. So shout out Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

The Sport She Watches as a Fan: “The Olympics,” Andrews says, “and anything involving horses, especially the Maclay Finals.”

Irrationally Competitive About: “Scrabble—I will hit you with a Bingo.”

Sister Act: Malika’s younger sister, Kendra Andrews, made her ESPN debut on NBA Today—with Malika conducting the introduction.

The Last 12 Months of Her career Have Been. . . “A year of stretching into new assignments, returning to roles I love, and having fun while doing it.” 

Platforms/Shows: All the Smoke (All the Smoke Productions)

Audience: 1.32 million YouTube subscribers

Claim to Fame: Through physical play, off-court controversies, and shit-stirring antics, Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes earned their reputations as NBA bad boys. Let them tell it, they were merely misunderstood. So it’s fitting that the former “We Believe” Warriors teammates built a platform where the guests feel emboldened to get real. In its sixth year, All the Smoke welcomed guests like Jalen Duren, 2 Chainz, Will Ferrell, and Barack Obama to talk ball and life with candor. The brand has grown beyond its flagship podcast into baseball (ATS Baseball) and documentaries—they landed a partnership with journalist Howard Bryant’s Hawley Road Productions. Not bad, boys.

Ridin’ Dirty: As a young’un, Captain Jack related to UGK’s street-informed soundtracks to his Texas hometown. “Everything [UGK] talked about, I’d see with my own eyes,” he told SLAM in 2012. “Port Arthur is so small, we all go through the same struggle, the same ups and downs, everybody’s doing the same drugs, everybody’s doing the same thing because our city is so small.”

Blowing Money Fast, Part I: Barnes says he paid at least $500,000 in fines to the NBA during his 14-year career. “I’m sure it’s going toward $1 million,” he told Sports Illustrated in 2015.

Religious Roots: Jackson attended Sunday school and semiweekly choir rehearsal as a kid.

Setting the Mood: “We’ll sit back and drink, smoke, listen to music and build a sort of fellowship before we even get to recording,” Barnes told Hypebeast in 2024.

Blowing Money Fast, Part II: When Jackson signed with the Phoenix Suns, he remembers receiving a $25,000 check. “I blew it all in one day,” he said on the Iced Coffee Hour in 2022. ”Me and Mike Bibby went to the mall and bought everything we could find.”

Platforms/Shows: Pablo Torre Finds Out (Meadowlark Media)

Audience: 271K YouTube subscribers

Claim to Fame: In a sports media landscape dominated by hot takes, fat salaries, and unnecessary attempts to cross over into music, Pablo Torre still cares about journalism. His thorough investigative reporting that unearths bombshells like the Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard allegedly circumventing the salary cap won him a Pulitzer Prize in 2026. (The NBA’s investigation is still ongoing.) He balances it with a humorous tone, digestible analysis of complex topics, and a healthy mix of lighter investigations such as one into the viral conspiracy theory around the electrical substation near the San Francisco 49ers practice facility.

Survey Says: On a 2024 episode of Celebrity Family Feud, Torre came through in the clutch with the highest Fast Money round score (174 points) in the show’s history to secure a victory for his team.

Face Time: Across his 13-year stint on ESPN’s Around the Horn, Torre racked up 138.75 wins in 606 appearances.

Top 100: TIME named Pablo Torre Finds Out one of the 100 best podcasts of all time.

Social Network: Torre attended Harvard University at the same time as Mark Zuckerberg and was one of the first 200 users on Facebook.

GOATs in the Family: Torre has referred to his father as "the LeBron James of Filipino urologists.

Platforms/Shows: NBA coverage across SportsCenter, Get Up, First Take, and NBA Today (ESPN)

Claim to Fame: When it comes to the NBA, the news isn’t official until Shams tweets it. The 32-year-old journalist has gone from breaking news in between college classes—check out his Complex feature from 2016!—to breaking the internet whenever he reports the latest blockbuster trade or free agent signing. As the senior NBA Insider at ESPN, Shams is glued to his iPhone 24/7, developing sources, checking in on contacts, calling, emailing, texting. Sound exhausting? There’s nothing he’d rather do. “I feel like this is a league that [has to be] covered 24/7, 365,” Charania tells Complex. “There’s no amount of time that goes by where there’s not something going on—and that’s the part that I love about it.”

Early Side Hustle: Charania worked as a unit concierge at a hospital in high school and college. His mother, a nurse, urged him to pursue medicine but he was fixated on sports journalism. “I was in the early stages of developing sources and had my phone out the entire time,” he says. “I don’t think I got in trouble for it, but I was definitely trying to multi-task.”

Weekend Warrior: Charania averaged 10.75 points per game in four games on his brother’s rec team this summer.

Reaction to LeBron’s Latest Decision: “Shock, stunned, I knew the Sixers were very, very involved,” Charania says. “Obviously LeBron and his inner circle of Rich Paul and Maverick Carter did everything to keep this tight-knit until LeBron was ready. But I found out about 10, 15 minutes before that it was coming. Then it was just about making the rounds of calls to figure it out. Okay, he's made his decision. It's about to come out. Now where is it landing? It was an 11:30 a.m. eastern time announcement. I found out, maybe 5-10 minutes before that it was definitively the Sixers and it was just go-time from there.”

The News Never Stops: Shams pushed back his call with Complex twice due to breaking news about the Los Angeles Lakers sale and Russell Westbrook’s retirement. Who says August is a dead month in the Association? “Exactly,” he says. “It never is. You always have to be ready.”

Yes, It’s True: He has 3,206 unread emails on his phone.

Platform/Shows: Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown, SportsCenter, Get Up, NFL Live, The Pat McAfee Show, First Take (ESPN)

Claim to fame: Schefter is the Walter Cronkite of the NFL: He’s the most trusted man in America when it comes to breaking league news. The Michigan graduate made his NFL reporting bones in Colorado, where he covered the Broncos for the Rocky Mountain News and then The Denver Post. He then gained national prominence after joining the NFL Network in 2004. And when ESPN got tired of getting scooped by Schefter, they poached the Bellmore, New York native in 2009.

Big Bank: In July, Schefter signed a multiyear extension that will extend his ESPN tenure beyond twenty years; his previous deal was for a reported five-years $45 million.

Little Bank: Schefter still gets royalty checks from his cameo in Adam Sandler’s 2005 remake of The Longest Yard. “They come once or twice a year for like $6 dollars and 31 cents,” Schefter told All Things Covered.

Fake News: Like many public figures, the real Schefter sometimes gets confused with parody accounts on social media. In 2012, Adarn Schefter tweeted, “It’s official. The #Jaguars have traded for Tim Tebow.” It was so believable that the official ESPN SportsCenter X account re-tweeted it.

Power Beverage: Green matcha latte with oat milk from Starbucks.

Platforms/Shows: Club Shay Shay (Shay Shay Media), Nightcap Podcast (Shay Shay Media)

Audience: 4.26 million YouTube subscribers, Club Shay Shay; 2.09 million subscribers, Nightcap

Claim to Fame: Shannon Sharpe, the 2023 Most Entertaining Person in Sports Media, spent the past year proving he’s bigger than the program. Even after his ESPN exit amid a sexual assault lawsuit (he settled out of court) and the collapse of a reported nine-figure podcast deal, the Hall of Fame tight end’s audience continued tapping into Nightcap and Club Shay Shay, which won an NAACP Image Award this year. He continued producing viral sports and culture conversations (see: a contentious debate with boxing champ Shakur Stevenson) and landing among YouTube's top podcasts, proving Unc’s momentum is truly unstoppable.

Mostly the Voice: “I went to so many speech therapists and pathologists trying to change the way I talk,” Sharpe told Complex in 2023. “And then I just realized that's not who I am. The listening audience, the viewing audience is never gonna believe this is who I am... Once I went back to being who I was, my authentic self, it seemingly took off for me from there.”

Student of the Game: Shannon sharpened his craft by watching more than 50 hours of tape on Ed Bradley, taking notes on the 60 Minutes interviewer’s cadence and calm demeanor.

Fashion Forward: He’s carried a purse since 2000.

Dream Podcast Guests: Oprah, LeBron, President Trump, President Biden, Denzel Washington, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Rogan, Tyler Perry, Dave Chappelle, Eddie Murphy.

Favorite Nickname: Unc. “It’s a term of endearment in the Black community, and honestly, it fits,” Sharpe told Forbes in 2025. “I’m the fun guy everyone wants around—the guy with the wild stories, who might sip a little too much and act a fool, but still the one you invite to every cookout.”

Platform/Shows: The Herd with Colin Cowherd (FOX Sports 1) The Colin Cowherd Podcast (The Volume)

Audience: The Herd with Colin Cowherd (138K daily viewers); The Colin Cowherd Podcast (915K YouTube subscribers)

Claim to Fame: After four decades spitting hot takes, Colin Cowherd still has something to say. Between The Herd and The Colin Cowherd Podcast, the 62-year-old broadcaster produces over 20 hours of original content per week and shows no signs of slowing down. Though he came up via a traditional route—television and sports talk radio—Cowherd has also been forward looking. He’s adept at spotting young talent early (see, Nick Wright and countless others) and trend forecasting whether it’s related to sports, tech, or media. Launched in 2021, his sports media company The Volume produces approximately 20 podcasts and has branched out from sports to entertainment with the hit shows Joe and Jada and New Rory & Mal.

The 2026 World Cup Was. . . “Something that exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were incredibly high,” Cowherd tells Complex. “The World Cup made this the most fun summer ever.”

Nick Wright’s Favorite Colin Take: “Sometimes he has these turns of phrase that are just so perfect,” Wright tells Complex. “About a year ago he was doing some rant and somehow this was part of it: ‘You have a headache? Drink some water. You're not feeling good. Drink some water. You go to the doctor, you know what they ask you? ‘Are you drinking enough water?’ Water. It's free medicine. Drink it.’ It's such a window into how Colin's brain works.”

On Power Naps: “I love naps. I nap five days a week for about 15 minutes,” Cowherd says.

Nick Wright’s Favorite Colin Sports Take: “I love, ‘I don't like my quarterbacks wearing their hats backwards.’ His general point is about how all of us send signals with how we present ourselves and how different jobs [require] different signals. It’s 100% accurate.”

Does He Use AI at Work? “I use AI all of the time,” Cowherd tells Complex. “FOX created a “SPORTS AI” with my voice and I use it all the time. I like information, and I just use it for basic info. It has helped all of my businesses.”

Dream Interview: LeBron James. “A long interview to talk big picture and wrap up his career.”

Platforms/Shows: The Bill Simmons Podcast (The Ringer/Spotify)

Claim to Fame: Don't let the hate from r/billsimmons and "aggregators" fool you, BS is still in the upper echelon of sports media—even as he's admittedly become a little forgetful. If anything, there has almost been a back-to-basics approach with late-career Simmons. His earlier edges have become commonplace (the merging pop culture nerdom with sports) and too antiquated (encyclopedic memory about random '80s and ‘90s shit). He's more sports obsessed than he's ever been—whether it's resurrecting the mailbags as an excuse to talk about old Celtics legends or giving hyperbolic takes around NBA Summer League. It's a narrower focus that comes with a narrower world—celebrity guests are now a rare occurrence. And he's even more dependent on the small circle of family we've known and loved over the years—Joe House, Cousin Sal, Chris Ryan, Zach Lowe, (just don't ask about Ryen Russillo).

Big Breakthrough: A 1999 ESPN column on the former Boston Red Sox ace Roger Clemens titled “Is Clemens the Anti-Christ?”

Biggest Win: Sold The Ringer to Spotify for a reported $200 million in February 2020.

Rappers Who Have Appeared on the Pod: Gucci Mane (2016), Ice Cube (2018), Common (2019), Quavo (2018), and Freddie Gibbs (2022)

Patriots Day: The former Boston Sports Guy has Drake Maye ranked higher than Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow amongst NFL QBs

Most Controversial 2026 Take: “I don't like seatbelts.”

Biggest Recent Win: An October 2025 deal brought The Bill Simmons Podcast and 15 other Ringer shows to Netflix.

Sworn Enemies: Pat McAfee, Dan LeBatard, Dave Portnoy, people who like pickleball, Lakers fans. . .

Yes, It’s True: Weather was a factor when Simmons decided to stick around Los Angeles after leaving The Jimmy Kimmel Show in 2003. But he also liked that the sports day started three hours earlier than in Boston.

Platform: ESPN

Audience: 2.6 million viewers

Salary: Charles Barkley: 10-year contract with WBD $210 million; Shaquille O’Neal: $15 million annually; Johnson and Smith: N/A

Claim to Fame: After 35 seasons on TNT, Inside the NBA made a major move to ESPN in October. But the change didn’t sap the magic from basketball’s most beloved crew of commentators, who flexed their influence by retaining their longtime Atlanta studio and crew. The sharp analysis and unhinged shenanigans remained, as Charles, Ernie, Kenny, and Shaq covered the NBA Finals for the first time in the show’s history, delivering foot races to the big screen, Gone Fishin’ segments, and viral Cardi B commentary. Their barbershop banter remains a cut above the rest.

Superpowers: “The opinion is Charles’ superpower. Charles could formulate an opinion on anything, and he’s able to speak from the back of his brain constantly,” Kenny Smith told The New Yorker in 2025. “Shaq is peripheral: He could see the big picture, and he could take the side of the opponent. But my superpower is: You could close your eyes and listen to me and see what’s happening. And how it’s happening.”

Sworn Enemy: Charles hates pickleball.

Ernie Johnson’s Dream Podcast Guests: Timothée Chalamet, Ted Lasso, and Paul McCartney.

Hey Shaq, How Much Does the Slam Dunk Contest Suck? “What’s the distance from the Earth to the moon? That’s how bad it sucks,” he told CNBC earlier this year.

Powerful Impact: “Our show didn’t create the podcast, but it allowed what sports podcasts are today: opinionating about things that you typically don’t talk about in sports,” Kenny Smith said in 2025.

Platform/Shows: College Gameday, The Pat McAfee Show, Monday Night Countdown (ESPN)

Audience: College Gameday (2.7 million viewers) The Pat McAfee Show (575K daily viewers; 2.99 million YouTube subscribers)

Salary: ESPN, five years $85 million

Claim to Fame: Former All-Pro NFL punter Pat McAfee owns and hosts The Pat McAfee Show, the daily program ESPN licenses for television and streaming, while serving as a central voice on College GameDay, and, starting next month Monday Night Countdown. In September 2025, the show generated more than 1 billion social views; that season, GameDay posted its most-watched regular season. McAfee’s defining skill is making sports coverage feel exactly like a live event: relaxed, unpredictable, and powered by direct access to athletes and newsmakers. By retaining control of his production while using ESPN’s reach, he has turned his personality and loyal audience into one of sports media’s most influential independent businesses.

Poker Paid Off: McAfee has said he won roughly $1,400 in a high-school poker game and used it to attend a Miami kicking showcase, where he earned a scholarship to West Virginia.

WrestleMania Trifecta: In one night at WrestleMania 38, McAfee defeated Austin Theory, wrestled Vince McMahon, and took a Stone Cold Stunner.

Mic Check: After spending 20 years writing songs (or so he claims), McAfee released his 14-track debut album, The Diary of a Polarizing Figure, in August. A country-rock album (think, Kid Rock meets Jelly Roll with an accent that is not native to Pennsylvania), with lyrics like “And cheers to the sun and cheers to the moon /Let’s celebrate life while we have the oppor-tune.”

Kicking It Forward: Since launching his College GameDay kicking contest in 2023, McAfee has awarded $2.9 million to students and donated another $3.35 million to charity using his own money.

Blind Ambition: McAfee once held the Guinness World Record for the farthest blindfolded American football field goal after converting a 40-yard kick in 2016.

Platform/Shows: First Take (ESPN), The Stephen A. Smith Show (SiriusXM), Straight Shooter With Stephen A. (SiriusXM)

Audience: First Take (520K daily viewers); 1.4 million YouTube subscribers

Claim to Fame: Stephen A. Smith had a very Stephen A. Smith year. ESPN rewarded its reigning sports-media megastar with a reported $105 million deal (his SiriusXM contract is reportedly for three years, at $36 million), while his increasingly political commentary reflected his serious consideration of a 2028 presidential run. He reunited with former First Take sparring partner Skip Bayless, hilariously debated Cam’ron, continued dominating the sports-talk cycle, and found himself in conversations far beyond sports. SAS has built an empire off yelling and yapping. All hail.

First Fight: A seventh-grade scuffle. He doesn’t remember the guy’s name but remembers how it played out. “He caught me in the temple, dropped me to one knee, and then was coming to finish me,” he told Rolling Stone in 2025. “Then I got up and caught him with a straight right.”

Must-see TV: SAS is a Martin fanatic.

Negative Ratings: The National Association of Black Journalists publicly critiqued Smith at its annual convention in August 2026, charging that the sports personality has established a pattern of cutting down prominent Black women and reinforcing harmful narratives. Smith swiftly vowed to clap back at the organization: “I've shut my mouth for years,” he wrote via X . “Now y'all started something." Later that week he rebutted with a 44-minute video titled: “I Was Blindsided by NABJ—Now I'm Responding.”

Double Standards: “If I’m loud and I’m going off about something, I’m ‘angry.’ If a white dude does it, he’s ‘passionate,’” he told Rolling Stone in 2025.

Yes, It’s True: Smith registered 1.5% support in a July 2026 Big Data Poll of likely Democratic primary voters, putting the Queens native at the bottom of a list of potential 2028 presidential contenders.